According to a prominent panel of computer security experts, the FBI’s Carnivore Internet wiretap system continues to cause strong concerns about privacy and the legal limits of government surveillance, in spite of a favorable review by an independent group. The security experts were commenting on a review of Carnivore conducted by the Research Institute of Illinois Institute of Technology (ITT), which released a draft report on Nov. 17, with a final report due soon after. While praising the Justice Department and the IIT group for their efforts at examining the wiretap system, the experts said the review was too limited in scope to definitively answer whether Carnivore is sound, safe, or always within legal limitations. The experts said that the IIT review should have made a thorough search for flaws in programming, and determined whether Carnivore provides precise enough records for reliable wiretapping, particularly when it is operated from a remote location.
Carnivore is a modified version of a common software item known as a “packet sniffer” that Internet service providers use to maintain their networks. The system has been used under federal wiretap authority in dozens of criminal and national security cases. Since Carnivore can collect much more than Internet addresses, privacy advocates and lawmakers critical of Carnivore believe that the Justice Department should follow the regulations for wiretaps when using the device, instead of the less-restrictive rules for pen registers that they have been following in most cases.
The Privacy Foundation, which also reviewed the Illinois report, feels that Carnivore has the potential to be an appropriate tool for law enforcement, but asserts that certain technical difficulties as well as legal questions must be addressed. The IIT group stood by their work, but agreed with two of the criticisms by the respected panel: that the legal framework for wiretapping must be revised for the digital age, and that the system must be under continual review as it evolves.
Based on a report from the New York Times
